What sort of crafting system do we need in Star Trek Online?

We don't need one like ********, where you gather mining ores, or herbs, or cloth, to "craft" various physical objects.

We don't need one like EVE Online, where you mine or loot, or create scientifically various physical objects.

In fact, I urge Cryptic to outright reject any notion of crafting physical "things".

Why?




It's just not Trek-like. It's the 25th century in-game. There is nearly free energy. There are replicators. "Stuff" has little meaning, in the 21st century context.

It's a new type of MMO. It's the 21st century in-real life. Change is in the air. You guys have a chance to do something original, in the 1950s rock and roll context.




Give us a crafting system that:

• Doesn't rely on physical "stuff".
• Relies entirely on knowledge, training and skills.
• Can be worked on **NOT** on timed schedules--emphatically not like EVE Online.
• In ********, if I'm insane, have vast amounts of "gold" and are committed, I can level a skill from 1-450/max level in one day. Or at my own pace. We should be able to do that too in theory.

What will we actually "craft"? Ourselves:

1. Skills.
2. Knowledge.
3. Abilities.
4. Traits.
5. Attributes.

Example things we can train/craft, give each 50 ranks, like our levels. Let us train a maximum of 10 at any given time. The Star Trek man is a renaissance man, after all. The big thing is that these would be things ANYONE can learn. The crafting system would the actually getting the ranks from 1-50. By having 10 maximum, that's a lot of crafting to do, and would let you significantly bump up your character customization. Dramatically. Possible examples:

1. Weightlifting: Extra melee physical damage. Precedent: Big dudes like Worf. Each rank increases physical damage by 1%.
2. Warp core engineering: Actually faster warp speed travel time in sector space. Precedent: Tom Paris, Warp 10. Geordi: Any number of extended 9.8+ trips. Each rank 1-50 increases warp travel speed by 1%.
3. Equipment enhancements: various small abilities on your gear. 1-10: tricorder ground scans leave visible waypoint on nearby targets for 10 seconds. 11-20: Basic weapon cooldown, -0.4 seconds, and so on. Precedent: Wesley and others are always tinkering with and enhancing stuff.
4. Stellar cartography: Ability to find anomalies in Exploration areas at a greater range of 2% per rank.
5. Track and field: increase your sprint speed by 1% for each rank.
6. Diplomacy (once we have diplomacy missions, which are coming): 1% more likely to succeed/get favorable response per rank.
7. Tribble breeding: increase tribble spawn time by 1% per rank.
8. Terrestrial forensics: 0.5% increased likelihood of causing a loot spawn on the ground per rank on each kill.
9. Spatial forensics: 0.5% increased likelihood of causing a loot spawn on in space per rank on each kill.
10. Commerce: 0.5% increased sales price of all gear sold to non-replicator vendors per rank, and 0.5% reduced cost of purchase from all non-replicator vendors per rank.
11. Replicator efficiency: 1% reduced replicator cost on purchases per rank.

How do you get points, and level 1-50 times 10? By getting some sort of Training Merit. Did you complete a ground mission? You get a chance to get a Training Merit that applies to certain "categories" of Training Skills--maybe it would apply to the "Surface" category, which is Track & Field, Spatial forensics, and Swordfighting Training Skills. You can apply the Training Merit to one of your existing skills. Each application can earn you 1-4 points in that skill. Training Merits CAN NOT be traded or sold. Completed Exploration missions? Chance for training merits that can apply to Stellar Cartography & Spatial Forensics, for example. Have other accolades trigger others -- for every 15 minutes traveling at warp speed (in motion!!) you have a chance to get a merit to bump Warp Core Engineering.

Play = rewards tailored for that play. Specialization.



...and so on. Thoughts?